Kat Chowhttp://weku.fm
enGrace Lee Boggs, Activist And American Revolutionary, Turns 100http://weku.fm/post/grace-lee-boggs-activist-and-american-revolutionary-turns-100
Grace Lee Boggs, who has spent much of her life advocating for civil rights and labor rights, became such a noted figure in Detroit's Black Power movement that people assumed she must be partially black. In some of her FBI files, Boggs, who is Chinese-American, was described as "probably Afro Chinese."<p>(We'll let that sit with you for a moment.)<p>And that's not the only assumption she's defied.Sat, 27 Jun 2015 11:03:00 +0000Kat Chow77081 at http://weku.fmGrace Lee Boggs, Activist And American Revolutionary, Turns 100Denmark Vesey And The History Of Charleston's 'Mother Emanuel' Churchhttp://weku.fm/post/denmark-vesey-and-history-charlestons-mother-emanuel-church
There's a long history to the Emanuel African Methodist Espiscopal Church in Charleston, S.C., — affectionately known as "Mother Emanuel" — where nine churchgoers were allegedly shot and killed by <a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150618/PC16/150619404">21-year-old Dylann Roof</a> on Wednesday night in what authorities are calling a hate crime. In fact, this church has become a revered symbol of black resistance to slavery and racism.<p>It was founded in 1816 by a black pastor named Morris Brown, and it's the oldest black church still standing south of Baltimore. Booker T.Thu, 18 Jun 2015 18:12:00 +0000Kat Chow76681 at http://weku.fmDenmark Vesey And The History Of Charleston's 'Mother Emanuel' ChurchBuzzFeed's Saeed Jones Wrote A Beautiful Thing On Being Black In The Book Worldhttp://weku.fm/post/buzzfeeds-saeed-jones-wrote-beautiful-thing-being-black-book-world
Today on Code Switch, writer and critic Roxane Gay, who's a favorite of ours, writes about the <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/28/410015276/the-worst-groundhog-s-day-time-to-talk-again-about-diversity-in-publishing">problem of all-white recommended readings lists</a>.<p>It also reminded us of <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/self-portrait-of-the-artist-as-ungrateful-black-writer#.mgjALDMKYV">an essay from last month by Saeed Jones</a>, literary editor at BuzzFeed.Thu, 28 May 2015 14:19:00 +0000Kat Chow75800 at http://weku.fmThe Slants Frontman Fights Government To Register His Band's Namehttp://weku.fm/post/whats-name-band-founder-fights-government-retain-slants
<em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> In 2013, we wrote </em><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/10/20/236235813/asian-american-band-fights-to-trademark-name-the-slants">about a band named The Slants</a><em> and the legal battle over its name. As the saga continues, we check back in on what it means to the band's members — and what it could mean for trademark law.</em><p>When Simon Tam dropped out of college in California and moved to Portland, Ore., to become a rock star, the last tangle he imagined falling into was a multiyear battle with the U.S.Fri, 08 May 2015 17:04:00 +0000Kat Chow74979 at http://weku.fmThe Slants Frontman Fights Government To Register His Band's NameReaction To Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby's Remarkshttp://weku.fm/post/reaction-baltimore-prosecutor-marilyn-mosbys-remarks
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5EIjwn1g6k</p>Fri, 01 May 2015 18:45:00 +0000Kat Chow74698 at http://weku.fmReaction To Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby's RemarksVirtual Readings For Baltimore's Freddie Grayhttp://weku.fm/post/virtual-readings-baltimores-freddie-gray
<em>Editor's note: This post contains some language that many will find offensive. </em><p>Lots of people are looking for words to make sense of Freddie Gray's death and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore, and have turned to writers — from novelist and social critic James Baldwin to hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar — for an assist.Tue, 28 Apr 2015 21:26:00 +0000Kat Chow74544 at http://weku.fmVirtual Readings For Baltimore's Freddie GrayIn Its Season Finale, 'Fresh Off The Boat' Is Still Wrestling With Authenticityhttp://weku.fm/post/its-season-finale-fresh-boat-still-wrestling-authenticity
<em>Note: This piece contains spoilers. </em><p>In <em>Fresh Off The Boat's</em> season finale, Jessica, the family matriarch, worries over whether or not she and her kids have assimilated too much. The Huangs had been struggling to make ends meet, and now all of a sudden, things are turning around. Their steak house, Cattleman's Ranch, is booming. Jessica, who struggled to fit in to suburban Orlando life, has discovered the joys of <em>Melrose Place, </em>and even has a group of girlfriends to watch it with.Wed, 22 Apr 2015 19:03:00 +0000Kat Chow74285 at http://weku.fmIn Its Season Finale, 'Fresh Off The Boat' Is Still Wrestling With AuthenticityGeorge Takei And Company To Hollywood Gatekeepers: Fix Your Diversity Problemhttp://weku.fm/post/george-takei-and-company-hollywood-gatekeepers-fix-your-diversity-problem
Remember that Deadline article from a few weeks back?Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:31:00 +0000Kat Chow74183 at http://weku.fmHow The South Korean Government Made K-Pop A Thinghttp://weku.fm/post/how-south-korean-government-made-k-pop-thing
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_lSP8Vc3o</p>Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:46:00 +0000Kat Chow74013 at http://weku.fmHow The South Korean Government Made K-Pop A ThingWay More College Students Are Studying Korean. Is 'Hallyu' The Reason?http://weku.fm/post/way-more-college-students-are-studying-korean-hallyu-why
A recent <a href="http://www.mla.org/pdf/2013_enrollment_survey.pdf">study</a> found that in general, college students aren't taking foreign language classes as much as they used to — a slowdown of nearly 7 percent since 2009. But for one language in particular, there's actually been a pretty amazing jump in the rate of enrollment: Korean.<p>The Modern Language Association says there was a 45 percent increase in university-level enrollment in Korean language classes between 2009 and 2013, from 8,449 students to 12,229.Fri, 03 Apr 2015 20:48:00 +0000Kat Chow73487 at http://weku.fmSome Messy History Behind A Fight Over A Restaurant Called 'Chop Chop Chinaman'http://weku.fm/post/some-messy-history-behind-fight-over-restaurant-called-chop-chop-chinaman
Over in Chicago, a restaurant called Chop Chop Chinaman has been getting a lot of heat for its name. In February, Chicago-area resident Jeannie Harrell was arrested for scrawling "F*** this hate crime s***. It's 2015" in lipstick on the restaurant's window, right next to the shop's decal sticker of a rickshaw and a man wearing a triangular hat.Thu, 26 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000Kat Chow73109 at http://weku.fmSome Messy History Behind A Fight Over A Restaurant Called 'Chop Chop Chinaman'Why It's So Hard For Us To Agree About Dong From 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'http://weku.fm/post/why-its-so-hard-us-agree-about-dong-unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt
The very first time we encounter Dong Nguyen, one of <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-race/">several</a> hotly debated characters in Tina Fey's <em>Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt</em>, he has just introduced himself to Kimmy in their GED class. And, as surely happens to Dong all the time, ever since he immigrated to New York from Vietnam, she's stifling a giggle over his name.<p>"Nice to meet you, [chuckle] <em>Dong</em> [chuckle], I'm Kimmy," she spits out.Thu, 26 Mar 2015 12:33:00 +0000Kat Chow73102 at http://weku.fmWhy It's So Hard For Us To Agree About Dong From 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'The Time A Cartoonist Was Told To 'Lighten Up' A Characterhttp://weku.fm/post/cartoonists-story-about-time-he-was-told-lighten-character
In a beautifully illustrated comic over at <a href="https://thenib.com/lighten-up-4f7f96ca8a7e">The Nib</a>, cartoonist Ronald Wimberly relays the story of working with an editor who asked him to lighten the skin tone of a character he was working on, Melita Garner, who has been <a href="http://www.comicvine.com/melita-garner/4005-63164/">described</a> as Mexican and African-American, a reporter, and Wolverine's ex-girlfriend.<p>Given her ethnicity, Wimberly figured he'd "make her some kind of brown." But he got a request from the editor to use a much lighter color instead.Fri, 20 Mar 2015 17:22:00 +0000Kat Chow72858 at http://weku.fmThe Time A Cartoonist Was Told To 'Lighten Up' A CharacterStarbucks Campaign Already Inspiring Awkward Conversations About Racehttp://weku.fm/post/starbucks-campaign-already-inspiring-awkward-conversations-about-race
Starbucks' campaign to get people talking about race has already birthed a very public, very cringeworthy conversation about race.Wed, 18 Mar 2015 21:12:00 +0000Kat Chow72786 at http://weku.fmStarbucks Campaign Already Inspiring Awkward Conversations About RaceThe Fascinating Story Of New Orleans' Two Lost Chinatownshttp://weku.fm/post/fascinating-story-new-orleans-two-lost-chinatowns
New Orleans is known for its enormous Vietnamese population, one of the largest in the country. But we recently came across a story about a now-lost Chinatown in New Orleans — two of them, in fact — and how they came to be.Fri, 06 Mar 2015 16:58:00 +0000Kat Chow72273 at http://weku.fmThe Fascinating Story Of New Orleans' Two Lost ChinatownsStudy: At 'Rate My Professors,' A Foreign Accent Can Hurt A Teacher's Scorehttp://weku.fm/post/study-rate-my-professor-foreign-accent-can-hurt-teachers-score
"So-and-so is really, really hard to understand." Or: "His accent is so distracting." I remember hearing off-the-cuff remarks like this a few times in college, complaints by classmates about teaching assistants and instructors, almost all of them of Asian descent and non-native English speakers.<p>Along these lines, Nicholas Subtirelu, a linguistics grad student at Georgia State University, recently published a <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9531137&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0047404514000736">study</a> in the journal <em>Language in Society</em>Thu, 05 Mar 2015 19:20:00 +0000Kat Chow72234 at http://weku.fmStudy: At 'Rate My Professors,' A Foreign Accent Can Hurt A Teacher's ScoreRapper Jin Tries To Stretch His '15 Minutes' Of Famehttp://weku.fm/post/rapper-jin-tries-stretch-his-15-minutes-fame
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMOZRk74QrY</p><p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv-s856_yjM</p>Wed, 04 Mar 2015 14:50:00 +0000Kat Chow72164 at http://weku.fmRapper Jin Tries To Stretch His '15 Minutes' Of FameA 'Show Boat' With An Asian-American Cast Hits The Rockshttp://weku.fm/post/show-boat-asian-american-cast-hits-rocks
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s</p>Sat, 28 Feb 2015 15:03:00 +0000Kat Chow72005 at http://weku.fmAfrican Emoji CEO: Apple 'Missed The Whole Point' With Its Diverse Emojishttp://weku.fm/post/african-emoji-ceo-apple-missed-whole-point-its-diverse-emojis
Alpesh Patel, the CEO of <a href="http://www.ojuafrica.com">African-based emoji company Oju Africa</a>, thinks Apple missed the mark with its new set of iPhone emoji options, which offers more skin-tone options than before.<p>"Look at their new emoticons — it's all about skin colour," he <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-african-emoji-company">told Vice's Motherboard</a>.Wed, 25 Feb 2015 18:41:00 +0000Kat Chow71862 at http://weku.fmAfrican Emoji CEO: Apple 'Missed The Whole Point' With Its Diverse EmojisHere's Where Emoji Skin-Tone Colors Come Fromhttp://weku.fm/post/heres-where-emoji-skin-tone-colors-come
In emoji news (one of my favorite types of weird news, ever): Apple this week <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/23/388575181/in-beta-release-apple-introduces-new-racially-diverse-emojis">released a beta operating system to its testers</a> that finally includes noticeably browner — and, um, yellower — choices.<p>So how did Unicode, the consortium that sets the standard for emojis, settle on particular colors for their icons?Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:47:00 +0000Kat Chow71824 at http://weku.fmHere's Where Emoji Skin-Tone Colors Come FromOscars Voter Says 'Selma' Cast's 'I Can't Breathe' Tees Were 'Offensive'http://weku.fm/post/oscars-voter-says-selma-casts-i-cant-breathe-tees-were-offensive
The Hollywood Reporter is doing a series of interviews with voting members of the academy, the folks who decide who gets an Oscar. Yesterday's (anonymous) interviewee had <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/brutally-honest-oscar-ballot-2015-773902">this</a> to say about why <em>Selma</em> didn't get a nod:<p><blockquote><p>"First, let me say that I'm tired of all of this talk about 'snubs' — I thought for every one of [the snubs] there was a justifiable reason. What no one wants to say out loud is that <em>Selma</em> is a well-crafted movie, but there's no art to it.Thu, 19 Feb 2015 21:20:00 +0000Kat Chow71613 at http://weku.fmOscars Voter Says 'Selma' Cast's 'I Can't Breathe' Tees Were 'Offensive'After a Racial Attack, A South Philly School Tries to Healhttp://weku.fm/post/after-racial-attack-south-philly-school-tries-heal
In December 2009, 30 students at a high school in South Philadelphia, mostly recent Asian immigrants, were <a href="http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/78452-south-philly-high-five-years-later-stability-replaces-deliberate-indifference?linktype=hp_impact">beaten up</a> at school by their peers. Several had to be hospitalized.Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:21:00 +0000Kat Chow71577 at http://weku.fmAfter a Racial Attack, A South Philly School Tries to HealSome Thoughtful Words — And Many Unanswered Questions — After Chapel Hillhttp://weku.fm/post/some-thoughtful-words-and-many-unanswered-questions-after-chapel-hill
Since the killing of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, N.C., last week, a grand jury has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/16/craig-hicks-indicted-over-north-carolina-shooting-of-three-muslim-students">indicted the victims' neighbor Craig Hicks for the murders of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, Deah Shaddy Barakat and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha</a>.Tue, 17 Feb 2015 21:24:00 +0000Kat Chow71523 at http://weku.fmSome Thoughtful Words — And Many Unanswered Questions — After Chapel Hill'Community' Actor Ken Jeong Might Be Getting His Own Showhttp://weku.fm/post/community-actor-ken-jeong-might-be-getting-his-own-show
There's more good news in Asian-American TV land.<p>ABC recently greenlighted a pilot starring Ken Jeong, best known as quirky Spanish language teacher Señor Chang in Community, also <em>The Hangover</em> villain Mr. Chow. Jeong, who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/dec/05/ken-jeong-crazy-guy-hangover-trilogy">worked as a doctor for seven years</a> before turning to acting, will play a frustrated MD who's struggling to keep the rest of his life afloat.<p>The AV Club, which reports that <em>Dr.Thu, 12 Feb 2015 19:12:00 +0000Kat Chow71317 at http://weku.fmOne Of The Chapel Hill Victims Was Raising Funds To Help Syrian Refugeeshttp://weku.fm/post/one-chapel-hill-victims-was-raising-funds-help-syrian-refugees
On Tuesday night, three young Muslims were shot dead near the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus.<p>From member station <a href="http://wunc.org/post/chapel-hill-shooting-what-we-know-so-far">WUNC</a>:<p><blockquote><p>"46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks has been charged with 3 counts of 1st Degree Murder for the murders of Deah Barakat, a second-year student [at UNC] in the School of Dentistry and his wife, Yusor, who had planned to begin her dental studies here in the fall.Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:10:00 +0000Kat Chow71251 at http://weku.fmOne Of The Chapel Hill Victims Was Raising Funds To Help Syrian RefugeesGraphic Novelist Adrian Tomine Takes On The Notorious Long Duk Donghttp://weku.fm/post/graphic-novelist-adrian-tomine-takes-notorious-long-duk-dong
On Friday, I <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/06/384307677/whats-so-cringe-worthy-about-long-duk-dong-in-sixteen-candles">explained what's "cringeworthy" about <em>Sixteen Candles'</em></a><em> </em>Long Duk Dong, whose broken English and social ineptitude left a painful stamp on many Asian-American children of the '80s.<p>Keith Chow, creator of the pop culture blog <em>Nerds of Color</em>, <a href="https://twitter.com/the_real_chow/status/564050648157941760">reminded me</a> that graphic novelist Adrian Tomine took on the legacy of Dong in his 2001 comic "<a href="http://wwMon, 09 Feb 2015 17:12:00 +0000Kat Chow71145 at http://weku.fmGraphic Novelist Adrian Tomine Takes On The Notorious Long Duk DongWhat's So 'Cringeworthy' About Long Duk Dong in 'Sixteen Candles'?http://weku.fm/post/whats-so-cringe-worthy-about-long-duk-dong-sixteen-candles
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjh3TxOHCxE</p>Fri, 06 Feb 2015 21:16:00 +0000Kat Chow71047 at http://weku.fmWhat's So 'Cringeworthy' About Long Duk Dong in 'Sixteen Candles'?A Brief, Weird History Of Squashed Asian-American TV Shows http://weku.fm/post/brief-weird-history-squashed-asian-american-tv-shows
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKD7wu4-Iw4</p><p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QdXwVGCX2M</p><p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO2xEQKDPuw</p>Thu, 05 Feb 2015 18:29:00 +0000Kat Chow70981 at http://weku.fmA Brief, Weird History Of Squashed Asian-American TV Shows Barbie Has Some Royal Competition In Nigeriahttp://weku.fm/post/barbie-has-some-royal-competition-nigeria
In Nigeria, Barbie has some fierce — some <em>brown</em> — competition: Taofick Okoya, a 43-year-old entrepreneur, has created Queens of Africa dolls and Naija Princess dolls that are outselling Mattel's classics.Tue, 20 Jan 2015 18:21:00 +0000Kat Chow70274 at http://weku.fmBarbie Has Some Royal Competition In Nigeria2014 Stories At The Intersection Of Race And Sportshttp://weku.fm/post/2014-stories-intersection-race-and-sports
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR-tbOxlhvE</p>Wed, 31 Dec 2014 21:24:00 +0000Kat Chow69423 at http://weku.fm2014 Stories At The Intersection Of Race And Sports